Green revolution is needed says Claire Davies in bid to get elected - The Redditch Standard

Green revolution is needed says Claire Davies in bid to get elected

Redditch Editorial 22nd Nov, 2019   0

THE Green Party is proposing nothing less than a revolution in British politics, says their Redditch constituency candidate Claire Davies.

And a revolution is needed she adds, if we are to avert the steady increase in global temperatures that has seen wildfires in Australia, droughts in East Africa, and flooding in the UK.

“We cannot continue with ‘business as usual’ and that goes right across the entire breadth of society – we are in unprecedented times and we really need ambitious plans to come out of it successfully,” she says.

The Greens want to see the introduction of proportional representation, consensus politics and a move away from the ‘them and us’ nature of first past the post, after all, she says, just 35 per cent of the electorate voted for the Conservatives at the last election.




On Brexit the party wants to see a vote on the current Brexit deal: “Brexit was very theoretical – we have to ask people is this what you meant by Brexit because I’m not even sure all the Tories knew what it meant,” said Claire.

“And the idea that the government will ‘get Brexit done’ is far from it as they will have to negotiate a whole lot of deals – far from being done it will go on for years and years.”


They also advocate pumping more money into local government to provide local services for local people, which would also go a long way to solving the adult social care crisis the country is facing.

“£50billion has been taken out of local government in the last ten years and we would be investing £10bn a year over the next ten years, that’s doubling it,” she says.

Her party also advocates a four day week and the introduction of a universal basic income – a core payment for every adult – to pay for basic needs with top ups for those with particular needs.

How would it all be paid for? “The tax system would be overhauled, we’d cut a lot of vanity projects like HS2 and Trident, end airport expansion and introduce a carbon tax so that in ten years we can turn things around,” says Claire.

That ten year target is significant – the United Nations says climate change is ‘the defining issue of our time’ with just 11 years to prevent irreversible damage being done to the planet.

“This is crunch time, and if we don’t reach that target there’s a 50-50 chance of runaway climate change,” said Claire.

“This is an important election – after this it could be another five years before the next one and we’ll be half way to 2030.

“Redditch is a wonderful place and I have campaigned here on many issues and I think the Green Party can really offer something new in Redditch – and it has got to be now.”

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